Court hears appeal in Iraq ambush case where 6 drivers dies

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Relatives of civilian truck drivers killed in Iraq emerged from a closed-door hearing Wednesday hopeful that a federal appeals court would resurrect their cases against a military contractor.

A federal judge in Houston had thrown out lawsuits filed by truckers and their families against Halliburton and its former subsidiary, KBR Inc., over a deadly ambush on April 9, 2004, that killed six KBR drivers, wounded others and left one missing and presumed dead.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the truckers and their families asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn the judge's ruling and reinstate their cases. The plaintiffs accuse KBR of knowingly sending its workers into harm's way while delivering fuel to U.S. troops at a Baghdad airport.

"We're cautiously optimistic that the 5th Circuit is going to get it right," said Roger Hawkins, lawyer for former KBR trucker Reginald Lane, who was wounded in the convoy attack.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit heard arguments from lawyers for both sides during a rare closed-door session. It could take several months for the court to issue a ruling.

Truckers' relatives were allowed into the courtroom, but the hearing was closed to the public and media.

Halliburton and Houston-based KBR asked for the closed hearing because they said "confidential information," including an Army investigative report on the ambush by Iraqi insurgents, would be discussed.

Tobias Cole, a lawyer for wounded trucker Kevin Smith-Idol, said he didn't hear any references to "top secret" information during the hearing. He questioned the companies' motives for seeking a closed hearing.

"They're just trying to hide their own negligence," Cole said.

Company lawyers declined to be interviewed. In a statement, KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said that she couldn't comment on ongoing litigation, but that the "safety and security of all employees remains KBR's top priority."

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in Houston dismissed the cases in September 2006. Miller ruled the Army plays a key role in deploying convoys and said the judiciary can't second-guess the military's battlefield decisions.

The truckers' lawyers claim KBR knew it was sending the convoy into a dangerous area and could have prevented the bloodshed.

"We just want answers," said April Johnson, 28, of Riverside, Calif., whose father, Tony Johnson, was killed in the attack. "People are dying over there every day, these contractors, and it needs to stop."

KBR, which split from Halliburton last year and operates as a separate, publicly traded company, said 110 of its employees have been killed in Iraq since it started working there under a multibillion-dollar military contract in 2003.